In my posting No. 39, I revealed the corner of my dining room dedicated to Marcus Aurelius, below:
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| click to enlarge |
Now it's time to move to the the yellow wall and tackle the kitchen door and the area that surrounds it, as seen in the diagram above and the image below:
Oh, oh, the color photo didn't turn out too well, so we'll make it a duotone and pretend it's an old archival image. The door frame was put up before I had any thought of a mural, so it's not Pompeian in style. I'd describe it as Elizabethan.
The door frame was designed around two angelic furniture details that were a Christmas gift many years ago from my sister-in-law, Alice. The rest of the door frame was built to my design by a very talented artist, Jerry Jones. When I designed the door, I was actually thinking of that great English treasure, Knole House, below.
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| knoleconservationteam.wordpress.com |
Because the door frame was moved to my house from my previous address, it was not exactly flush to the wall. So the first order of business was to fill in a slight gap with a mixture of caulk, spackle — and on some rounded edges — papier maché.
I've painted the door frame to look like stone, and the rest of the wall will match the other masonry in the room.
Here's the finished kitchen door and the base coat for the wall, with masonry lines penciled in.
If you look closely, you can see that I've penciled a pediment over the door frame. I hope the result will give it a slightly more Neoclassic feel.
And I hope you join me for the next posting,
when I paint the blocks, and mortar them into place!
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Mark I really like the new doorway and the pediment will make it even more striking. I will watch for your next posting to see the great progress you are making!
ReplyDeletexoxo
Karena
The Arts by Karena
Hello, Karena, the reult will be interesting because of course part of the door will be 3-dimensional and part will be 2-dimensional.
ReplyDeleteDear Mark - H and I love it - the two figures are redolent of those seen carved into marble fireplaces and furniture in many of our stately homes. The pediment will add your own unique Neoclassical feel.
ReplyDeleteDear Rosemary,
DeleteI have often wondered how those figures were used originally, and what the furniture — whatever it was — might have looked like. I like to imagine that it was a pretty big piece.
Hello Mark, I think that your Elizabethan doorway blends in very well with your Pompeii scheme. A lot of Renaissance and Elizabethan design elements are Classical in origin, anyway. Moreover, the caryatid-like side brackets on the doorway strongly echo the curves and overall zoomorphic design of the legs on the tripod, further integrating the handsome door frame.
ReplyDelete--Jim
Hello, Jim,
DeleteI think the pediment will do the trick, and at least take the doorway back to the Renaissance. Incidentally, I had considered painting caryatids instead of columns, but I guess that's going to be for another room . . .
Dear Mark, You are so clever using paper mache for some of your repairs. Will your masonry be three dimensional or will you treat it in the same way as you did the columns.
ReplyDeleteAdding a pediment above the door will bring it all together. I ca't imagine what else you are going to do, but knowing you, there will be more.
You are planning on staying in this house for a while?
Dear Gina,
DeleteI have the great misfortune of being able to quickly spot flaws, and that means that my eye invariably goes to places where people take shortcuts, and where things fall apart. Alas, it happens in my own house!! I learned in other projects that spackling and caulking can hide a multitude of sins, but that they work less so on curves and bevels. Papier maché seemed the best way to go, and it worked out quite well.
I hope that I live many years in my small house, enjoying the illusion of Pompeii. But because my house is indeed small, I have no doubt that my work will eventually be bulldozed. I'm okay with that. I would not expect anyone else to live within my own vision. Life is for living in the present and letting go of expectations for the distant future makes living in the present possible.
And by that I mean of course living fully in the present moment — something I strive to do, not always with success!
DeleteHello Mark,
ReplyDeleteWhat fun it is for us to look back and see how much progress you have made with the Pompeii Room. And, indeed you have moved on remarkably.
The remodelled doorway will fit in well with the overall scheme once complete. Indeed, even with the pencilled in Neoclassical pediment, one can see that it will soon fit harmoniously in with the rest of the decoration.
And, we are interested to read of your philosophical approach to what may happen to your work when you may no longer be in the house. It was much the same for us when we left our garden. It is yours to have pleasure with and in for as long as that may be. Thereafter......one cannot worry. In our case, the bulldozers did indeed move in!
Dear Jane and Lance,
DeleteAs I am single and childless, it is becoming easier and easier to accept that traveling lightly through life is the way to go (though I suppose lightness is a relative term). I recently saw this wonderful quotation, which is attributed to the Buddha:
In the end, only three things matter: How much you loved, how gently you lived and how gracefully you let go of things not meant for you.
Hello Mark,
DeleteWhat a simply beautiful quotation. Perfect.
It sums up life for us too in so many ways. A lightness of being.....yes, we must strive towards it.
There are no words for how impressed I am by your attention to detail, Mark. The quote from Buddha in your comment above is one that particularly touches me....out of the blue, in a comment thread, a little pearl awaits.
ReplyDeleteDear Barbara,
DeleteYes, your comment came through just fine! I love that quotation from the Buddha, too, and I can tell you as one who has spent a lifetime collecting all manner of things, that the process of letting go is very liberating. If nothing else, it beckons the Universe to fill a void with something new and possibly even more exciting!
I also think using the papier mache´was brilliant. There are so many straight lines you have created so perfectly...round or flat brush? (always curious about the process)
ReplyDeleteHi, Theresa,
DeleteMy preference has always been round brushs for smaller detail areas; they seem (to me at least) to hold paint better and provide more versatility. I've used tape to achieve a lot of the straight lines. In the case of the masonry (in the newer posting), I've used tape for the dark masonry lines, then gone back and painted irregularities so that they don't look too mechanical.